Neverfall: The Dark Path (Book 2): A Gamelit Lit RPG Series

by C. Wintertide

  The dragon’s head was starting to swing around again towards his friends. Luke had to keep him interested.

  So sell me on the Dark Path, Luke said.

  Slowly, that head swung back. It sells itself. I am simply here to let you know that you have started on your way and to… welcome you.

  Luke shook his head. I’m not going down the Dark Path if it leads to you. Never.

  You think me so terrible?

  Isn’t that how you want to be seen?

  His father went silent. Had he scored a point? Or, weirdly, Luke wondered if he had hurt his father again with that? But no, maybe Mallory might care, but the Dark Lord? The being that crushed people beneath his booted heel? He would hardly be hurt by knowing that Luke saw him just as he wanted to be seen.

  You really think that you can kill this dragon with your sword, and no mana potions, let alone health potions? His father’s tone was disbelieving. The fact that he knew about their lack of potions was even more concerning than not having enough of them.

  Can the Dark Path conjure coins or potions? If so, let me know how to do that, and I’ll consider it, Luke said.

  Poor and weak? What a combination you are right now, my son!

  It’s your fault I have no money, you know! Luke sputtered. He was about to bring up the game development and balancing of the economy, but his father would not understand.

  Come to me, and I will give you more wealth than you could even imagine, his father offered.

  Good try there! But no thanks.

  So you set off into the wildlands to earn your fortune? Yes, I see that’s exactly what you did do. Brave, his father mused. But stupid.

  Luke grimaced. What other choice is there? We need money. We need experience. Got to take risks to get both. Can’t just kill rats in the sewers.

  There are quite a few powerful rats in the sewers, his father replied.

  Yeah, I met some of those. The King Rat was special.

  They gained their monstrous size and attributes by eating the flesh of the dead, his father explained, and Luke felt interested in spite of himself. He had always been a sucker for lore in games. There was a great city where Lethbridge now sits. Its towers pierced the sky and its lower levels nearly reached the center of the planet. Or so they say. It was a huge city so there was plenty of strange meat for the rats to feast upon. Flesh that was tainted with the magic used to destroy that place.

  What was the city’s name? Who lived there? Luke asked as he made his way slowly but surely along the path towards the dragon. It was watching him. Waiting.

  The city’s name is lost to the sands of time, but it was ruled by the high elves. There are plenty of things in its depths to gain enough coin to bathe in mana and health potions. If you survive its trials.

  Yeah, that’s the trick. Getting out alive, Luke said.

  The real question is whether you will survive this next encounter.

  Luke’s gaze rose to the dragon. He swallowed. His father would be able to control the dragon’s powers in a way that the programming would not. He would make it harder. So much harder. So he tried another tack. Persuasion.

  You control the dragon right now, Father. Just let us go. No need to attack.

  It does not work that way. You have to take another step forward. The path will not let you go back, his father insisted.

  So you won’t help! You just want to see me and my friends crushed. Luke shook his head in disgust.

  Letting you continue to believe you can survive Neverfall without my help and training would be far crueler, would it not? His father’s tone was almost kind. Luke wondered if he was using some low-level Persuasion to make him think that.

  Stop with the Persuasion!

  Luke was over the center of the lake now, within reach of the dragon’s breath. He was also within Christopher’s magical range. Red healing light flowed around him, and the smell of burning hair went away, as did the throbbing on the back of his neck from where he’d been burned.

  I suppose I understand your fear of the Dark Path. The high elves that followed it in the past, followed it far, and caused the greatest evils in the world, his father mused

  High elves? Oh, right, you think my mother is a high elf, so I have some of her blood in me, Luke realized.

  I do not think your mother is a high elf. She is, his father sounded testy. So, you see, the Dark Path is your destiny.

  What’s the price of it?

  The price of power is always steep.

  He thought then of how in Mass Effect 2, if the character went Renegade, which would likely be the equivalent of the Dark Path here, their facial injuries worsened, instead of healing. Which led him to another question.

  Is the price physical? Is it why you wear that hood all the time, Father?

  The Matrix-like wash flowed over the dragon’s body again, and Luke could see his father on the throne quite clearly. Luke’s steps stuttered as his father reached up, and pulled back the hood.

  Luke wasn’t sure what he expected to see. Vader’s ruined visage? A skull? A blasted face? But no. His father’s face was the same as he had seen it on YouTube, except there were two major differences. First, his father’s eyes were black, like black pits. And second, the same tattoos as Luke had crawled up from beneath the collar of his father’s armor. They covered his cheeks, and formed what looked like a crown across his father’s forehead. They flared with fire. With power.

  The tattoos… I have those, Luke found himself saying. But it was one thing to have them on his forearms, but another on his face.

  Of course. They mark you as my son. The Dragon Prince. And when you fully accept your destiny, they will grow and spread. They hold power, Luke. More power than you can imagine.

  Luke swallowed as his own tattoos burned. He suddenly was ashamed of them rather than proud. He forced himself to move again. He was only ten feet from where he could jump down and face the dragon. But he was careful not to drop his hand to the sword’s hilt. He would remain in a non-aggressive stance until the last moment.

  Can one ever leave the Dark Path? I mean, you say I’ve chosen it, but I didn’t know I had.

  Everything you do, everything you think, every word you speak will determine what your path is, his father answered.

  Luke felt his alarm grow. Christopher had explained this earlier, but he had not really considered it fully. The game itself was making the determination about what path the players would take based on unknown variables. That meant he wouldn’t know what act or thought would lead down which path. Nothing he’d done so far--except maybe for sparing Marty--had the bright clean line of light or dark. But, evidently sparing Marty hadn’t outweighed the other actions he’d taken, because his father claimed he was already walking the Dark Path. Would his tattoos grow, too? Would his eyes become black pits? He was relieved when his father drew his hood up.

  Luke was directly opposite the dragon now, and his heart slammed against the interior of his chest as it lumbered over to him. The ground shook. Dirt and stone sifted down from the cavern’s ceiling. Its huge head was only a foot from Luke. The Matrix-like effect had disappeared and he was facing a dragon again, but its eyes still held his father’s soul in them.

  “Luke?” Christopher was suddenly by his side, breathless, afraid but there. He cast Shield on Luke.

  “Christopher, you are a crazy man. Why are you running towards the dragon?” Luke asked with a tight smile.

  “You came over to it,” Christopher pointed out.

  “Yeah, well, there’s a reason for that,” Luke said as he swore the dragon--his father--smiled at him.

  Who knew a dragon could smile?

  “You’re communicating with it! That’s what I told the others! They didn’t believe me at first, but they do now,” Christopher sounded amazed. His eyes were shining. Evidently, Christopher did not see the green lines of code. He only saw a dragon gazing at Luke with almost fatherly patience.

  “Ah, not exactly,” Luke admitt
ed. “My father is controlling the dragon, and I’m talking to him. In my head. He controls all dragons, evidently.”

  Christopher’s head snapped towards him. “Your father?”

  “Yeah. I can hear his voice in my mind,” Luke explained again.

  “Luke, what’s going on with the dragon? Is it glitched?” Mack called up.

  “In a manner of speaking,” Luke yelled back. “Hold on!”

  “Onto what?” Mack laughed. “Should we start hacking at it?” He made a chopping motion with Cutter. “We need the experience points!”

  That will re-start the battle and our chance to talk will be at an end, his father informed him. For now.

  Did he want this conversation to continue? He wanted… to understand this man, and that made him angry all over again. He didn’t need a father! He didn’t need Xander Mallory! But some part of him still thought he did.

  But it’s not Xander Mallory talking to me. It’s the Dark Lord. I’ve got to remember that.

  “Hold a minute, Mack!” he told him.

  Alicia stepped towards him. “What is wrong? Explain! This is not normal!”

  Luke sighed. “Alicia, I’m not going to scream down an explanation! Just wait!”

  “Luke, that dragon’s no good! Trust me! It’s tricky!” Cassie called up.

  Relieved to hear her, he called back, “I know! Don’t worry! I really, really know!”

  He turned back to the dragon where his father was still in those yellow-gold eyes.

  Does my mother… is she on the Dark Path? Luke asked.

  The dragon’s eyes narrowed. Your mother walks in the Light.

  Will she… will she still… if I walk the Dark Path…

  She is your mother. Of course, she will still love you.

  Luke’s breath caught in his throat. But then he reminded himself that his mother was back in Winter Haven. She was not Queen Nurala of A’nlian, the NPC that his father was referring to. What would it be like to see his mother as envisioned by his father? Would she be some kind of generic elven queen who was graceful and spoke in riddles? Would she be a warrior queen who fought at the side of her people? Would she wield magic instead of a blade? Or maybe both like him? But it wouldn’t be his mother. It was an illusion and, in the end, it would likely upset him more than make him feel good to see her.

  His father broke into his thoughts again, But do not let love hold you back from greatness. From your destiny.

  Luke shook his head, and let out a pained laugh. You would think that. It’s what cost you Mom and me in the first place. I’m not making that mistake.

  If you join me, you can go see your mother now, Luke. His father’s voice dropped low.

  Luke’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. What about you? Can’t you go see her?

  She’s locked me out. But you… she will open the door for you. Dark Path or no.

  Luke snapped back as if slapped by his father’s words. Is that why you want me with you? Because I can access my mother’s kingdom?

  In part. Fire wreathed the dragon’s dagger-sized teeth. If she sees you with me, she will come around.

  Luke shook his head violently. I’m not helping you capture her. That’s never going to happen!

  The dragon seemed to smile again. Never say never, my son.

  “Luke, what’s wrong? What did he say to you?” Christopher asked.

  Luke’s hand dropped to Dragon’s Claw. That smile grew.

  I will do whatever it takes to keep my friends safe, Luke said. But could he attack this dragon that had his father’s eyes?

  Cassie drew her bow. Alicia and Mack flanked the dragon. They knew that it was time to fight. The dragon started to turn its head to look over at them. Luke reached out, and touched the dragon’s snout. The moment he did so, his tattoos throbbed like they were hungry. He thought of his father’s face, carved by those black flaring lines.

  Marked as mine, his father murmured.

  Luke gritted his teeth as the hunger flooded him again stronger than ever. He needed to feed. He needed energy. Luke hunched over as the hunger seemed to want to devour him from the inside out. Touching the dragon, feeling its strength, had done this. The feeling was not going away. He was on the path.

  No, I’m not walking the Dark Path!

  Then you will fail, his father’s voice echoed in his mind.

  “What’s happening?” Christopher cried.

  Red swirls of healing magic surrounded him, but it did no good. The hunger could not be satisfied with this weak magic.

  What are you doing to me, Father?

  The dragon tilted its head to the other side. I am doing nothing at all. This is all you.

  How do I make it stop? A trickle of sweat ran down Luke’s temple.

  Feed, his father said.

  15

  DRAIN

  As his father’s voice drifted away, the sense of greater intelligence left the dragon’s eyes. It blinked and shook its head as if to clear it. That sensation of pressure Luke had experienced since his father had begun to speak to him was gone as well. He felt almost empty without it. He, too, swayed a little dazedly. But he snapped back to himself more quickly than the dragon. A feeling of gratefulness that he wouldn’t be fighting the dragon with his father looking at him filled him. He would simply be fighting a beast, not a man.

  He quickly searched for Alicia and Mack. But he couldn’t see them. They were blocked from sight by the dragon’s bulk. Cassie had climbed up onto the path on the far side of the cavern and had her Bow of the Huntress out, and an arrow nocked. He reached down for his gloves and pulled them on.

  “Christopher, I need you to cast Shield now, and then get out of range,” Luke whispered.

  “O-okay. Are you--are you all right?” Christopher asked as golden light cascaded over him.

  “I’m fine,” he lied. The hunger sharpened him.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Christopher moving reluctantly away. Luke drew out the blade. The ring of steel filled his ears and drowned out everything else. His father was right. The sword wasn’t separate from him. He was the sword. The sword was him. He had to feed.

  The dragon’s gaze was sharp now too. And focused on him. Its throat began to glow. Luke grinned wildly. The dragon’s head was right there. And though that meant he was close to that terrible mouth and its fire, he was also close to its most vulnerable part: its eyes.

  Breaking down bigger, stronger enemies was the way to go. Just as he’d done against Renard. He would do that now. With all his strength, he stabbed Dragon’s Claw into the right yellow-gold orb. The eye exploded in a gush of thick fluid that coursed down its scaly cheek.

  The dragon let out a deafening cry. It shook the cavern. Luke lost his footing and pitched forward, and fell to the cavern floor, striking his right hip and shoulder. His Shield smashed into golden shards. Dragon’s Claw went flying from his hand, and landed on the ground about five feet from him. The dragon continued to scream as it shook its head in agony. A red 200 rose up from its body, and its health bar dropped accordingly.

  Luke pushed himself upright. If only he had been up on the path, he might have been able to poke out the blasted dragon’s other eye out, but no. He was down on the ground, and in danger of being stomped on.

  The dragon drunkenly weaved about. Its back left leg nearly smashed him. Luke rolled out of the way. He scooped up Dragon’s Claw, before dashing out of its range. The dragon turned, still making low angry noises, towards him. One look at its face--it was glaring at him out of its one remaining eye--told Luke that he needed to end this battle soon. The dragon was out for blood.

  Luke’s eyes narrowed. He grasped Dragon’s Claw in both hands. The flames licked up his hands. Not burning him. But the tattoos ached with hunger. The dragon lowered its head. Its throat glowing once more. Luke didn’t wait for the fire. He burst forward, running at full speed, towards the dragon. He needed to interrupt that flame breath.

  Just as he was five feet from the dragon�
��s body, he leaped. The dragon raised a foreleg to knock him out of the air, but Luke twisted and slashed at that leg. Dragon’s Claw sliced off two of its long toes. He saw them flying end over end to the ground. Black blood spurted in twin geysers from where they had been. Two 25s rose up and then there was a steady stream of ones and twos as the dragon took bleeding damage. The dragon let out of one of those screams that again seemed to shake his bones. Rock and dirt sifted down from the ceiling just as Luke landed on his feet. His increased Athletics was coming in handy.

  He spun and slashed at the dragon’s other clawed hand that was coming to swat him. The blazing tip of his sword cut across the soft pads of the dragon’s claw. Black blood arced out and splashed against the front of his armor. There was a hissing sound, and the drops that struck his cheek burned like acid. Luke let out a surprised cry, and frantically wiped at the viscous, thick liquid. But that just spread the burning sensation. Luke frantically backpedalled as he pawed at his face. The blood had passed through the Shield and his health bar was slowly lowering. But all Luke could think about was that the blood was burning through his face.

  The dragon reared back. Its jaws opened. Its head shot out towards him, but then a screaming dwarf was between him and the dragon. Mack swung Cutter in glittering arcs. The axe sliced through the dragon’s snout. Two red 25s rose up as Mack managed to slice several ribbons of flesh from the dragon’s jaw. Blood rained down on him, too. Mack let out a stream of curses as he also experienced the “joy” of being burned by the acidic blood.

  Alicia barrelled past them both. As Luke dragged Mack away from the raining blood, she started to batter the dragon’s wounded wing. It hung by a thin thread of black webbing. It would never move again. Another 50 hit points were gone. The dragon’s health was down to less than one-third. But that didn’t mean the dragon was any less dangerous.

  The dragon snapped at Alicia. It grabbed her between its jaws, and there was a crunching sound. She let out a scream of agony, but still managed to bash the dragon’s head with her cudgel for another 25 hit points as it lifted her off of the ground. The dragon then shook Alicia like a cat might shake a rat before throwing her limp body against the far wall. She left a smear of blood behind on the stone as she sank to the ground.